Priest with St. Augustine ties on road to possible sainthood

Varela spent time as boy in city, later retired there

By Tristan SchweigerTimes-Union staff writer,

He may have done much of his life's work elsewhere, but the story of Felix Varela is a source of pride for the Catholic Diocese of St. Augustine.

Varela, a 19th-century Cuban priest who lived in St. Augustine as a child and later retired and was temporarily buried there, is on the road to possible sainthood today with the presentation of an official church document on his life to Victor Galeone, bishop of the diocese.

"Hometown boy makes good" is how Galeone described Varela's recognition. Although he died 150 years ago, Varela remains a popular figure, Galeone said.

"He is very beloved among the Cubans, both here as well as in Cuba itself today," because of his position at the forefront of the movement for Cuban independence from Spain, Galeone said.

The presentation today of the document on Varela's life, known as a positio, by Monsignor Octavio Cisneros will give Varela the title "venerable." Cisneros is the vice postulator, the person whose job is to be an advocate of Varela's sainthood.

A saint is someone recognized by the Catholic Church as being exceptionally holy.

Today Bishop Victor Galeone of the Diocese of St. Augustine will receive a copy of a "positio" describing why 19th-century priest Felix Varela should be named a saint. The paper is a step toward canonization.

-- Bob Mack/Staff

For the status to be conferred, miracles will need to be confirmed by the church and attributed to Varela.

"We are really waiting for the miracle," Cisneros said.

Throughout his life, Varela was an outspoken advocate of various social causes, including freedom for black slaves. He promoted those causes briefly as a politician following his election as a Cuban representative to the Spanish parliament in 1821.

However, the re-establishment of absolute monarchy by King Ferdinand VII in 1823 made Varela's progressive views unwelcome.

"These were not the kinds of things that people at that time wanted to accept in Spain," said Juan M. Navia, author of An Apostle for the Immigrants, in reference to Varela's social platform.

Consequently, Varela went into exile in New York, where he continued his work as a priest for 30 years. He is especially known for ministering to the waves of Irish immigrants then flocking to America, as well as starting schools and churches.

Broad impact

According to Navia, Varela's work on behalf of New York's immigrants makes him important to a much larger group than simply Cubans and Cuban-Americans and is the reason why Navia chose to write his study of Varela in English as opposed to Spanish.

"There is some literature in Spanish but there is practically nothing in English, and I wanted everyone in this country to understand what this man had been doing for all their ancestors," Navia said.

Varela returned to St. Augustine when his health deteriorated toward the end of his life to escape the cold of New York winters. He died in the city and was buried there until 1911, when his body was returned to Cuba.

Regardless of his roots and final entombment in Cuba, Cisneros said that "one of the main places of Father Varela would be St. Augustine, where he lived as a child and where he died," in addition to New York.

According to Cisneros, the church is recognizing Varela both as a man of action and a man of God.

There are about 750 Catholic saints, according to the Vatican. Pope John Paul II has canonized 464 saints and beatified an additional 1,303, making them eligible for future sainthood.

"I think what made him special was his openness to do what he had to do at the moment that it had to be done with the grace of God," Cisneros said.

Copies of the positio have already been presented to several high-ranking church officials, including Cardinal Edward Egan of New York and Archbishop John C. Favalora of Miami, as well as the Vatican.

More steps ahead

The stages of the process toward sainthood, or canonization, often take a long time. If a miracle can be attributed to Varela, he could be beatified, or declared blessed, but another miracle would have to be attributed to him before he could be declared a saint.

"Some saints have been declared blessed hundreds of years before they're actually declared saints," Galeone said.

In Varela's case, the process that led to his status as venerable and today's presentation began in 1985.

All claims that candidates for sainthood are responsible for miracles are investigated by the church before being officially recognized. A panel including doctors and scientists is convened to look into such situations to establish whether there is an identifiable scientific explanation for what has occurred.

"The faith background of the scientists has nothing at all to do with their serving on this panel," said Galeone, who explained that it is preferable that the investigators aren't Catholic.

Cisneros said that there were reports of a miracle attributed to Varela involving a sick priest in the St. Augustine area who suddenly recovered. However, the priest subsequently died before the event could be investigated and thus was not presented to Rome.

With the granting of the title "venerable" to Varela, Galeone said that Catholics "that have a devotion to him, a love for him" are invited to pray that God grants him a miracle that would allow the process of canonization to move forward.

As the way toward canonization is paved today, Varela's impact is still tangible, according to Navia. His Transfiguration Church in what is now New York's Chinatown is still open.

"The church that he founded, the Transfiguration Church, is still serving immigrants," Navia said. "His work really continues on today."

Staff writer Tristan Schweiger can be reached at (904) 359-4427 or via e-mail at tristan.schweigerjacksonville.com.